An appeals court on Tuesday ruled against several nonprofit groups that had $16 billion in climate grants frozen this year by the Trump administration.

In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that it did not have jurisdiction in the case and that the Trump administration acted legally in its attempts to claw back the funds, dashing the environmental groups’ hopes of immediately accessing money they were awarded more than a year ago.

“While some grantees may be forced to shutter their operations during the litigation, their harms do not outweigh the interests of the government and the public in the proper stewardship of billions of taxpayer dollars,” the court wrote in the majority opinion.

As part of President Joseph R. Biden’s signature climate law, the Environmental Protection Agency last year awarded eight nonprofit groups a total of $20 billion in climate and clean energy grants for things like financing solar installations and retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency.

But in February the money was frozen at the Trump administration’s request after Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, suggested that the grants were vulnerable to fraud. A lengthy legal battle ensued.

At stake are billions in grant dollars, a total that amounts to roughly double the E.P.A.’s annual budget. Legal experts say the case is testing the limits of the Trump administration’s ability to claw back federal money that has already been committed.